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There Be Dragons, Harry	By : Scioneeris Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Slash - Male/Male Views: 58493 -:- Recommendations : 9 -:- Currently Reading : 28
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its characters. I make no money by writing this story..

Chapter List
- 23
- 24
- 25
PREVIOUSLY:

"Ah. I had a bit of a scuffle with fangs and claws." Charlie scratched his right shoulder and then turned to show Harry a long, jagged, shiny burn that ran the length from his wrist to his shoulder. "They figured they'd send me off early and save on the sick leave." He shrugged. "Mum pitched a fit clear through the roof." He grinned. "But it's fine now. I just have to keep rubbing some scar and bruise salve on it and it'll be gone in a bit."

Fine indeed. Harry thought absently, resisting, just barely the urge to reach out and run his hands along that smooth, discolored stretch of skin.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley smothered the green-eyed boy in one of her famous hugs. "Oh Harry! I'm glad you're alright and you're staying with us and-" The plump redheaded witch paused with a frown. "Where's Hermione?" She peered over Harry's head as if the bushy-haired witch might be hiding behind her best friend. "Ron's already-"

"Ron says she missing." Harry managed. He allowed the hug even as his Dragel senses began to scream at him for being too close. He tried to push those thoughts and feelings away, because as far as he'd figured before, the Weasley's were the closest thing to family that he'd ever had. Really.

Yet, somehow, being hugged by Mrs. Weasley only made a faint ache in his chest as he thought of the taste of a mouthful of hair that would usually announce the armful of bushy-haired Herimone that followed. That seemed more right than this.

Harry stood stiffly until the warm arms released him. He couldn't put his finger on that thought, just that it didn't really sit well with him.

"Missing?" Mrs. Weasley's eyes grew wide and round and she murmured a blessing beneath her breath. "The poor child."

"I'm sure Dumbledore is doing all that he can, Molly. Hermione will be fine. She's a smart witch" Mr. Weasley joined the greeting group with a one-armed hug to Harry.

It also felt off.

"A very smart witch." Harry murmured.

Thankfully, he didn't have to put too much effort into acting normal or interested, for Ginny appeared next with Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnegan trailing behind her. They were loud and boisterous in every way that Harry was quiet and wishing he was invisible.

No one else said a word about Hermione.

Harry wondered what had changed.

Charlie sat next to his mother in the seat of honor and his siblings jostled around him for the perfect seat. He snagged Harry out of the group and seated him to his right with a simple smile.

Harry blushed and kept his head down.

The chattering and usual drama of a Weasley-style dinnertime swallowed him up.

Harry felt as if he were in a fog, watching things happen around him and being only vaguely aware that it was almost as if everything was normal.

Everything was normal.

Except for Hermione was missing.

Except for something mysterious happening in the forbidden forest.

Except for Voldemort marking Hogwarts.

Except for Theo leaving him alone.

Harry stiffened as Charlie's hand brushed over his arm as he reached for a helping of mashed cauliflower and spicy lentils. It was a dish he couldn't place, but one that the ponytailed redhead seemed to enjoy as he generously scooped out a portion onto his already overloaded plate.

"Want some?" Charlie offered, suspending the bowl close to Harry's plate. "I discovered it in Romania from one of the tamers who spent time in India." He maneuvered a smaller scoop into the serving spoon. "It's very tasty and it's not too spicy."

Harry tried to make his mouth work and only succeeded in giving a small nod.

Charlie smiled and added to the spoonful to his dinner plate, then went back to his own business.

A moment later, his hand, warm and roughened from work, slipped beneath the table to rest on Harry's thigh. He gave it a firm, comforting squeeze and continued on with the conversation around them, never once missing a beat.

Harry ate the gifted spoonful and nibbled at everything else, before he stopped eating altogether. His head began to ache and his stomach began to churn. He didn't really care to analyze that beyond the fact that there was simply too much of everything. There was too much noise, too much light and too many scents.

It made him somewhat dizzy and his gums ached, proof that his body was craving raw meat and those strange fruits Terius and Theo had both been feeding him.

A faint shudder rippled through him and Harry abruptly popped up from his chair.

The motion drew the attention of everyone at the table and he blurted out the first phrase on his lips. "I'm tired."

"Er, okay?" Ron said, from the other end of the table. He shrugged. "You can crash where you usually-" He stopped. There were more guests than usual here and he looked to his mother for help.

"Wait!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. "Ginny dear, you'll have to share with Miss Brown and let's see. Mr. Thomas can stay in-"

The bedroom pairings began and Harry suppressed another shudder. It felt as if the ground was shifting and moving beneath his feet. He wanted out and away from here.

That particular thought brought on a new slew of feelings and emotions he wasn't ready to tangle with.

Charlie's warm hand dropped on his shoulder. "I claim Harry!" He spoke up, just loud enough to be heard through the chatter. "He can stay in my room with me."

"What? But Charlie-!" Someone protested.

"He's the smallest." Charlie squeezed Harry's shoulder, gently. "And you know it's crowded in there right now." He turned Harry towards the doorway and then to the stairs. "We'll see you all in the morning. Night, Mum, Dad." He inclined his head and his grip on Harry's shoulder tightened faintly as he pushed the brunet forward.

The climbed the stairs to Charlie's room in a strange silence. Charlie had removed his hand at once, the moment they were out of view and Harry had shifted away from him—faintly.

"Harry?"

Harry grunted. He didn't trust his mouth to speak for him right now. He was all hot and ruffled and bothered in a way that made him feel a little cranky. Just a little.

"I didn't mean…I'm sorry." He changed. "I guess I just trust you a little more than the other boys." He shrugged. "You'll see." He stopped and the bedroom door and pushed it open.

Harry stumbled a few steps backwards.

A literal heat wave seemed to blast him as he stood there and Charlie glided into the room.

It was filled from ceiling to floor with shrunken boxes and parcels in neat, even stacks, with nearly every corner crammed full of something or the other. A thin, narrow passageway allowed Charlie to turn sideways and inch through the stacks to get to the far end of the room where a set of dresser drawers and a space dictated a bed.

Harry copied his example and turned sideways to inch through the passage way, to find himself on the other end and shocked speechless at the sight of Charlie yanking his short-sleeve shirt over his head. Scars littered the well-muscled expanse of chest and abs, with defined shoulders and a strong, corded neck. The red-hair seemed a few shades darker in hue as Charlie tugged the ponytail free of its confines and hurriedly ran his fingers through the layered mane. He made a few twists with his hand and succeeded in partially pinning the hair up and off his neck as the heat in the room seemed to coax a fine sheen of sweet to his skin.

"Sorry about the heat." He gestured towards the bed where a towel-wrapped in a bowl-shaped position cradled an egg. "They let me off early, but figured I'd be stable enough to see one last hatchling out."

Hatchling? Harry nearly choked. As it was, he backed into the boxes behind him and swallowed hard.

Charlie shrugged. "I didn't think you'd mind, seeing as you helped smuggle Hagrid's Norbeta to the Astronomy tower in the pitch black of night." He winked. "She's doing fine by the way. Do tell Hagrid when you can. Something tells me I won't be able to visit Hogwarts while I'm here." He sighed and then frowned, settling on the bed, cross-legged and drawing the towel-egg-nest to his lap. "I think there's an hour left before this one hatches." He nodded towards the egg. "Do you mind?"

Harry wasn't sure yet.

He took a cautious whiff, reading the mixed scents that came rushing at him. He could smell old, musty things, some odd exotic things and then, there was the dragon egg—it certainly smelled reptilian and friendly, if the definition following that scent was anything to go by. And then there was Charlie. Harry sucked in a big breath and squeezed his eyes shut to calm himself.

The scent of pine and wood seemed to fill the air, with the just faintest tinge of musk and iron.

Charlie almost smelled like Theo.

Harry coughed as he made the connections in his head.

Merlin. His life really wouldn't ever be easy.

"Harry?" Charlie eyed him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Harry found his voice. "Nothing at all.

"Is the heat too much?" Charlie began to shift as if he were to get off the bed.

Harry hurried forward, shaking his head. "N-no. It's fine." And it really was. To his Dragel self, the heat was a lovely addition and it was making him sleepy—content and sleepy. He stifled a yawn. There were things he should do before he slept. Important things.

Brushing his teeth for one. Washing his face for another. Finding his Pyjamas, at least.

But somehow Harry crawled onto the foot of the bed and settled down, leaning against a stack of boxes as he sat opposite of the redhead. "So, a dragon egg?" He tried and failed for levity, but the effort was picked up by the blue-eyed Charlie.

"Ah, yes. We're not sure exactly what kind of a dragon though."

"Really?"

"Mmm." Charlie carefully nestled the egg in the towel nest and eased it from his lap to the bed. "Count out a minute for me?"

Harry's shoulders drooped. Having Theo's elemental magic had certainly helped with his recent feelings and worries, but it was still strictly elemental magic at the moment. He didn't know how to use it for things such as a tempus or a simple accio.

"Harry?" Charlie had one elbow resting gently at the top of the egg's peak and the two fingers from that hand pressed to the wrist of his other, an awkward looking way of reading a pulse via the muggle way. "Tempus." He prompted.

Harry's face colored furiously. "I can't." He looked down at his hands, inwardly bracing. "I don't have…that kind of magic anymore."

Charlie stared at him for a long moment then straightened. His expression grew serious and finally he frowned. "Does Dumbledore know?"

"Yes." Harry said, simply.

"I see." Charlie's frown grew more pronounced. "How long has been missing? Were you hit by a curse?"

Harry shook his head. "Since before school started."

The blue eyes grew comically wide. "That long—Harry!" The exclamation was filled with worry. "That can't be—have you, has anyone do any-"

"Everyone says it'll come back." Harry shrugged. "The professors have been looking out for me." He waved it off. "I'm fine. I just can't cast a tempus for you right now. Sorry."

Charlie blinked. "Don't be." He said, automatically and then the rest of his senses seemed to catch up to him and he managed a small smile. "I suppose you caught off guard for a moment there." He mirrored Harry's earlier shrug. "Are you alright with that?"

Harry wrinkled his nose. "I have some magic." He defended. "And I've plenty of charms on me."

Charlie snorted. "How charming."

Harry glared at him. "And I just said I couldn't cast a tempus. I didn't say that I couldn't-"

"I'll cast it and tell me when a minute's about up." Charlie leaned to the side and snatched up his wand from the nightstand table. He quickly cast the charm and set Harry to counting. The process was over in a matter of minutes and Charlie was frowning again.

"What's wrong now?" Harry wanted to know.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I'm probably imagining it, but it doesn't—it's a bit too fast." He gestured towards the egg.

"What are you doing?" Harry shook his head at the near answer from the redhead. "Not that, I mean more like, why? What are you measuring, I know it's not a pulse."

"A pulse?" Charlie blinked at him. "Er, no. Whatever gave you that idea? I'm measuring magical tremors or, I suppose you could call them pulses as well." He shrugged. "It allows me to see how well it's faring." He gestured towards the egg. "And sometimes it can tell me whether it's a boy or a girl."

"Which is it?"

"Boy, I think." Charlie shook his head. "But it's too fast. I can feel it. It doesn't feel like a dragon."

"What do you mean?"

"Here. Feel." Charlie reached over and caught his hand, pressing it gently to the surface of the egg. "Don't feel for something physical, feel for something—yes, like that!" He brightened. "How—strange."

"What?" Harry looked from their intertwined hands to Charlie's faintly blushing face. He didn't know Charlie could blush. It looked good on him. That thought, of course, made Harry blush and he hoped it wasn't too obvious. "Oh!" His face lit up at once. A soft, tickling brush of magical energy sparked at his fingertips and rippled over his body.

It.

He could feel it.

It was definitely a boy and it definitely was reptilian.

How Charlie knew it wasn't a dragon, Harry didn't know. He sure couldn't tell. He just knew that the egg was happy and content for the moment. Happier now that Harry was nearby and actually touching the egg.

"I think he likes you." Charlie grinned. "This is definitely an odd one."

"Hey, don't pick on him!" Harry batted Charlie's hand away from the egg. "He doesn't know he's odd!"

"Defending him already?" Charlie half-smirked. "You do know he can't stay here, right? Mum would pitch a fit."

"Where's the heat coming from?" Harry asked. He'd gone through his nightly preparations while waiting for time to pass and the hour had come and gone, leaving Charlie vaguely puzzled and somewhat worried. "Maybe it's still not warm enough?"

Both young men were now sprawled out on opposite ends of the bed and watching the egg in the makeshift towel nest with worried eyes.

"It's plenty warm enough." Charlie grumbled. "Any hotter in here and I'll die." He waved his wand and produced two glasses of cool water. "Drink up." He prompted. "I'm using a heating stone." He nodded towards one open crate in the only uncrowded corner of the room. "We use them on the reserve. It charges with the sunlight and gives off a steady heat source through the night. It's quite handy."

Harry rolled over on the bed, propping himself up on his elbows to squint at it. Now that he thought about it, he could feel the heat emanating from that corner of the room and spreading easily over everything else.

"Don't get too close, it's right nasty when it's freshly charged." Charlie turned his wand on himself and muttered a drying charm to get rid of the sweat and then the sweat-dampened sheets.

"Mm-hm." Harry murmured, straightening, while his eyes remained fixed on the swirling, pulsing red and orange stone. "Where you do find them?"

"You hunt them." Charlie yawned. "There are some treasure hunting folk, say like Bill for instance, who work with the goblins and all that and when he finds odd things sometimes he shares them-" Charlie shrugged. "I told him if he ever found anything useful to let me know and make a deal with the devil for them."

Harry blinked.

"The goblins." Charlie clarified, seeing the expression on his face. "They can cheat you out of nothing, if they've a mind to. Thankfully, they like Bill and that means I get to have useful things every once in a while." He gestured towards the parcels and shrunken crates. "Though this might be overkill."

"Might?" Harry waggled his eyebrows at him.

Charlie had the manners to blush and shrug, sheepishly. "Half of this is for the Order at least." He rolled over to rest on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "I have to double-check and catalogue it though, before I can even consider mentioning it to Dumbledore." He wrinkled his nose. "Bill gave me a whole stack of written warnings to go along with them. Mum didn't want me to bring them in the house. She's convinced half of them are cursed."

"Are they?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not coming from Bill. If there were any, he would've broken them already." He grinned. "Nice guy, that brother of mine."

Harry joined him for the chuckle. A comfortable silence lingered between them and after a moment, Harry spoke up again. "So how are your dragons? Any interesting stories?" He twisted and craned his neck to keep Charlie in his line of sight.

"Stories?" Charlie lit up at once. "Plenty!" He shook his head, suddenly. "Ron and the twins will kill me for telling you first."

"Let them." Harry said, cheerfully. "Tell me first and I'll forgive you for calling me small."

"Forgive me?" Charlie smothered a laugh. "But you are small, a lovely little-" He jumped when Harry pinched him. A very well-placed pinch. "Ow! What a way to repay a fellow." He mocked, rubbing the side of his neck.

Harry smirked and pantomimed another good pinch.

Charlie quickly rolled out of reach.

Charlie fell asleep first.

Harry was faintly surprised. He was glad because it allowed him a teensy bit of thinking time and slightly annoyed at the fact that he couldn't pick of up anything else off of the redhead apart from his delicious scent.

With Theo, he'd caught underlying tugs of magic and the steady calming presence that had easily extended to include him any time the brunet was nearby. Charlie's quiet humor was appreciated and well-received, as far as Harry was concerned, but he couldn't even feel anything beyond that. With Theo, he had felt a few tugs and pulls in the right direction.

His Dragel senses told him that Charlie would make a good beta—and he was quite obviously in the market for one—but it didn't offer any further useful information beyond that. Harry scowled up at the ceiling. He didn't know what else to do beyond that. Seducing wasn't really one of his strong points and just the thought of seducing—or trying to seduce Charlie Weasley—made more than just his face burn with embarrassment.

Yep.

Seducing was definitely out of the options.

Harry nibbled on his lower lip, lost in the usual complicated maze of thoughts. He missed Theo. In spite of his earlier anger, in a moment like this, here and now, Harry truly missed him. There was something about the calmness that simply surrounded the Slytherin that was somehow as natural as breathing, yet the quiet way that Theo had about him was now replaying in his mind's eye along with the fact that he'd yet to be sleeping alone for the past two weeks.

Since Theo had claimed him and especially since their mating, he'd easily fallen asleep in his mate's arms.

A natural, dreamless sleep that didn't require any potions.

Harry swallowed.

That was one thing he definitely owed Theo. He'd thought the dreams would drive him mad. It was hard enough to make do with trying to manage Occulemency and other mind magics. He'd just never been able to do it and while Snape may not have been the best teacher, the man had tried. He'd finally suggested that Harry find a good protection amulet and charm it to be irremovable.

In the end, Harry had done that.

But it'd given him some horrible headaches, so he'd taken it off and hidden it away.

While his resting period did require sleep, it wasn't always dreamless.

Granted, the dreams were lovely and well, graphic, in certain ways, Harry had welcomed them over the moments where he'd shared Voldemort's mind or been subjected to scenes of death and torture that were so difficult to ignore in his waking moments. Even when they'd argued that first time, Harry had pulled away and the dreams had taken a dark turn.

He'd sought Theo's arms frantically in the wake of a set of dreams that had been nothing more than nightmares. The moment Theo had held him close, the dreams had run away, tails tucked between their legs.

Harry had nearly cried in relief. Especially when it seemed that Theo hadn't even wakened to accommodate him, but rather, had simply snuggled him close and continued right on sleeping.

Yes, he definitely missed Theo.

His fingers searched 'round his neck and drew out the cord bearing his mate's scale. He stroked the warm scale and clutched it tightly in one hand. There really hadn't been any plans made. No concrete plans anyway. He only knew that they were together and that was it.

Then, it had been enough.

Now, Harry wasn't sure what came next.

It made his chest ache.

With a faint shake, Harry drew himself back to the present with a slight frown. He had a definite feeling that everything was anything but fine and he realized, belatedly, that he had no other way to contact anyone he'd gotten to know in the past few weeks. No way to reach Severus, Draco or Terius and most certainly, no way to reach Theo.

That particular thought made him scowl and glower all over again.

Idiot dominant! He thought fiercely. Can't even remember to give me a to contact him in case of an—oh screw Terius, how am I supposed to know how to call him when I don't-!

Harry scowled and glowered some more before the overwhelming urge to sleep came over him. The lovely warm room, Charlie's quiet, even breathing and the reassuring magical pulses from the egg had him yawning and relaxing all over again. He curled up around the egg nest, unsure of why, but figuring there was nothing to lose from it.

He was sure he'd wake up if the egg started hatching.

With a yawn, emerald eyes dimmed and winked out as Harry fell asleep.
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There Be Dragons, Harry